NEW: Changing of the guard at Sarasota's Mote Marine Lab

Published: Friday, February 15, 2013 at 8:01 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 15, 2013 at 8:01 p.m.

SARASOTA - Before Mote Marine Laboratory became the robust research and educational nonprofit Sarasota boasts today, it had only a dozen passionate researchers and a few volunteers who toiled in a partially constructed wing.

Kumar Mahadevan was one of them.

He joined Mote as a young researcher in 1978 and would later become the chief executive and president who championed major milestones in research, fundraising and education during the last 27 years.

Now Mahadevan, Mote's CEO and president since 1986, says he will leave his post in May to become a president emeritus, tasked primarily with promoting the lab's research and helping to lure the big donations that keep it afloat.

"I've been at this place for a long time. I'm like an old dog, I guess," Mahadevan, 64, said Friday after announcing his departure.

"So I want to work more like an advocate and an ambassador for all the good things here."

Michael Crosby, the lab's senior vice president for research, will take over as the nonprofit aims to endure not only as a destination for scientists who prefer the nimble and passion-driven lab to the strictures of state-funded academia, but also as a nonprofit dedicated to teaching locals about sea life and conservation.

Keys to Mote success

Mahadevan moved to Florida in the 1970s after hearing about Mote's unprecedented shark research from his home country of India.

He earned a doctorate degree in biological oceanography from Florida State University and took a job as a conservation consultant in Sarasota — then known more for its proclivity for the arts and circus acts than for its relationship with the sea.

"I kept bugging the directors at Mote to hire me," said Mahadevan of his tenure, the longest in the organization's 58-year history.

Sarasota's intimate relationship with the ocean and large population of philanthropists have been key to the lab's success, Mahadevan said. "The success came from people, I think," he said, adding that Mote stands apart from other research centers because "even though we have an international reputation, we're still a community organization.

"I've gotten to a stage where I feel really good to say, 'Let's go have fun.'"

Mahadevan and his wife, who raised three sons here, will remain in Sarasota.

Mote's departing leader has also been a key player in other major nonprofit and conservation groups, including the nationally sanctioned Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, which he helped establish in 1989.

Mark Alderson, executive director of the estuary program, credits Mahadevan with bringing awareness and conservations efforts to the fragile ecosystems throughout the region.

"I'm sorry to see him leave," Alderson said. "It's really surprising all of us. He's been a great asset."

Room to grow

When Mahadevan became Mote's CEO, the lab's operating budget was about $2 million per year and there were 52 staff members.

Those figures pale in comparison with today's operating budget of more than $17 million and 192 staff members, 31 of whom are doctorate-level scientists who are leaders in their fields.

Still, Mahadevan, whose salary is about $230,000 annually, says he hopes the laboratory can increase its $13 million endowment to a more sustainable $50 million.

Mahadevan leaves behind a much larger laboratory with more funding and a stable of experts whose work extends beyond sharks to everything from responding to oil disasters to unlocking potential cancer cures and wound healing properties kept in unique marine cell structures.

Crosby, 59, who takes over as CEO and president in May, said he realized in 2010 that he "had died and gone to heaven" when Mahadevan rushed researchers to the scene of the BP Gulf oil spill — something unheard of in the slow-moving world of scientific research.

"It was amazing to watch that. Kumar said, 'Get everybody out there and make sure that we're the first responders in an ecological context,'" Crosby said. "We didn't worry that we needed permission. We just reacted. We knew that the community expected this of us."

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - Before Mote Marine Laboratory became the robust research and educational nonprofit Sarasota boasts today, it had only a dozen passionate researchers and a few volunteers who toiled in a partially constructed wing.</p><p>Kumar Mahadevan was one of them.</p><p>He joined Mote as a young researcher in 1978 and would later become the chief executive and president who championed major milestones in research, fundraising and education during the last 27 years.</p><p>Now Mahadevan, Mote's CEO and president since 1986, says he will leave his post in May to become a president emeritus, tasked primarily with promoting the lab's research and helping to lure the big donations that keep it afloat.</p><p>"I've been at this place for a long time. I'm like an old dog, I guess," Mahadevan, 64, said Friday after announcing his departure.</p><p>"So I want to work more like an advocate and an ambassador for all the good things here."</p><p>Michael Crosby, the lab's senior vice president for research, will take over as the nonprofit aims to endure not only as a destination for scientists who prefer the nimble and passion-driven lab to the strictures of state-funded academia, but also as a nonprofit dedicated to teaching locals about sea life and conservation.</p><p><b>Keys to Mote success</b> </p><p>Mahadevan moved to Florida in the 1970s after hearing about Mote's unprecedented shark research from his home country of India.</p><p>He earned a doctorate degree in biological oceanography from Florida State University and took a job as a conservation consultant in Sarasota — then known more for its proclivity for the arts and circus acts than for its relationship with the sea.</p><p>"I kept bugging the directors at Mote to hire me," said Mahadevan of his tenure, the longest in the organization's 58-year history.</p><p>Sarasota's intimate relationship with the ocean and large population of philanthropists have been key to the lab's success, Mahadevan said. "The success came from people, I think," he said, adding that Mote stands apart from other research centers because "even though we have an international reputation, we're still a community organization.</p><p>"I've gotten to a stage where I feel really good to say, 'Let's go have fun.'"</p><p>Mahadevan and his wife, who raised three sons here, will remain in Sarasota.</p><p>Mote's departing leader has also been a key player in other major nonprofit and conservation groups, including the nationally sanctioned Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, which he helped establish in 1989.</p><p>Mark Alderson, executive director of the estuary program, credits Mahadevan with bringing awareness and conservations efforts to the fragile ecosystems throughout the region.</p><p>"I'm sorry to see him leave," Alderson said. "It's really surprising all of us. He's been a great asset."</p><p><b>Room to grow</b></p><p>When Mahadevan became Mote's CEO, the lab's operating budget was about $2 million per year and there were 52 staff members.</p><p>Those figures pale in comparison with today's operating budget of more than $17 million and 192 staff members, 31 of whom are doctorate-level scientists who are leaders in their fields.</p><p>Still, Mahadevan, whose salary is about $230,000 annually, says he hopes the laboratory can increase its $13 million endowment to a more sustainable $50 million.</p><p>Mahadevan leaves behind a much larger laboratory with more funding and a stable of experts whose work extends beyond sharks to everything from responding to oil disasters to unlocking potential cancer cures and wound healing properties kept in unique marine cell structures.</p><p>Crosby, 59, who takes over as CEO and president in May, said he realized in 2010 that he "had died and gone to heaven" when Mahadevan rushed researchers to the scene of the BP Gulf oil spill — something unheard of in the slow-moving world of scientific research.</p><p>"It was amazing to watch that. Kumar said, 'Get everybody out there and make sure that we're the first responders in an ecological context,'" Crosby said. "We didn't worry that we needed permission. We just reacted. We knew that the community expected this of us."</p><p>That attitude will continue, Crosby said.</p>